Change your method, group urges N/Delta militants

As the authorities intensify efforts to contain the activities of the Niger Delta militants in the creeks and oil prospecting areas, the militants have been urged to renounce their scorched earth modus operanda as neither the federal government nor the people are their enemies.

Rising from a meeting in Enugu, Buhari South-East Youths Movement (BUSEYM), after reviewing the state of the nation, said the actions so far taken by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration should make the militants embrace dialogue and negotiations just like their elders, led by Chief Edwin Clark. The group reminded the militants that Niger Delta elders had called on them to stop their incessant bombing of national assets.

BUSEYM, in a statement signed by its Director-General, Engineer Nwabueze Onwuneme and National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Igwe Samuel Obinna, while declaring empathy with the objectives of the militants, frowned at their methods.

In the statement released in Enugu at the weekend, BUSEYM leaders explained that they were forced to lend their voice to the issue as the activities of the militants affect all Nigerians.

The group referred to the recent report of the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics which stated that the bombing of oil installations, leading to loss of revenue from that sector, is further driving recession which is affecting all Nigerians.

“Indeed, BUSEYM, as a youth group cannot but identify with the challenges of fellow youths, and we have followed the activities of our brothers in the Niger Delta closely.

Their agitation for a clean environment, equitable sharing of resources and fiscal federalism are noble and worthy causes and should be supported by all who mean well for Nigeria.

“President Buhari has shown he means well for Nigeria by initiating and flagging off the $1 billion Ogoni Cleanup Project. Along this line, the Niger Delta militants must soft pedal on their wanton destruction of the country’s oil facilities and resources.

“We need not remind them that so far their approach is setting them on a collision course with the government which shouldn’t be the case.

“All over the world, groups rise to agitate for one demand or the other, but the right approach is not for such groups to raise arms against their fatherland or resort to anarchical methods.

We urge the Niger Delta militants to upgrade their methodology and position themselves for dialogue and negotiation with the authorities rather than challenging them to a duel.

“We are equally concerned that rather than form a broad united front, the Niger Delta groups are daily splitting into factions as if their demands differ. Let them unite and work together if indeed they are serious about their objectives” the statement reads.

BUSEYM further maintained that by its destructive activities, the militants are not only working against their own objectives but equally spreading uncalled for hardship on their own people, and also working against the development of the country. It urged the militants to have a rethink as their actions are directly militating against the quick economic recovery of the country

“The Niger Delta militants must not go about their agitation as if they are bent on destabilising the country. If at the end of the day their demands are met, we will all have nothing to fall back on as their scorched earth methods would have destroyed all the Country’s economic resources” BUSEYM affirmed.